Woman attacked and suffocated by Clovis police during medical emergency, lawsuit states
A wrongful death lawsuit alleges excessive force and negligence by Clovis police who responded to a 911 call seeking medical help for a 35-year-old woman in March.
Isabel De La Torre needed medical care, but was instead met by police officers who unlawfully entered her home with a K-9 dog that bit her before a group of officers piled on top of De La Torre, suffocating her, said attorney Edgar Flores with Gonzalez & Flores Law Firm in Las Vegas.
De La Torre was pronounced dead within hours of the incident at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno.
Flores announced the lawsuit against the city of Clovis and unknown law enforcement officers with the Clovis Police Department during a Friday news conference in downtown Fresno. It was held in front of the Law Office of Kevin G. Little, which filed the complaint in the Fresno division of U.S. District Court the day prior with Flores’ law firm on behalf of De La Torre’s father, Juan De La Torre. He’s asking the court for a jury trial.
A working copy of De La Torre’s death certificate that was provided lists “positional and compressional asphyxia,” “prone restraint,” and “homicide” by law enforcement as immediate causes of death. Her family is still waiting for more information from the coroner’s office, Flores said.
The death certificate also lists “acute methamphetamine intoxication, excited delirium, drug-induced psychosis, dog bites” as “other significant conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause given” – asphyxia.
Attorney for Isabel De La Torre’s family shares details
Flores shared details about what happened in the hours leading up to De La Torre’s death in late March.
He said De La Torre’s partner called 911 because she was unconscious, and then hung up during the call because De La Torre woke up.
“Remember, this was a distress call. A woman is not responsive,” Flores said. “Law enforcement shows up and they walk into the home without Isabel’s permission, without anybody else’s permission in that home, and they released a canine on her, dragging her to her knees. I don’t hope anyone ever has to see the horrific dog bites all over her body – a woman who needed help. Why wasn’t it the fire department, why wasn’t it EMS, why wasn’t it anyone except law enforcement (to respond first)?”
Then De La Torre was “jumped on by a bunch of members of law enforcement with heavy equipment, with weapons on their belts, and she stops breathing.”
Flores said she and her partner, who is five months pregnant, were the only people home that night, and that they didn’t have weapons, weren’t threatening police, and weren’t resisting arrest.
The lawsuit states De La Torre only asked to be left alone. It describes asphyxiation as “one of the most horrendous ways to die” and calls Clovis police’s actions “akin to having Isabel buried alive.”
“Nationwide, we’ve seen the hashtag #Ican’tbreathe,” Flores continued, “and that national movement was in hope that those words would never have to be uttered again by a single human being lying under a badge and a gun.
“And these are the unfortunate circumstances we find ourselves, because there is no transparency. There is no law enforcement cooperating with us and sitting down and saying, ‘Here’s what happened. Here’s the body cam footage.’ We understand that that transparency is not real, and that the only way that a family can get a glimpse of justice” is being “paraded like a circus.”
Flores said attorneys shouldn’t have to hold a news conference to get answers and justice, “But we know that if we don’t do it this way, it’s another cover up.”
This follows another lawsuit filed earlier this year against Clovis police, alleging that excessive force was used when a police canine bit a man during a traffic stop.
It also comes the same month the Clovis City Council voted in favor of placing a proposed tax increase to help fund public safety on the November ballot.
Clovis Police Department responds
After the Friday morning news conference, Clovis police issued a news release about the “in-custody death.”
In the statement, Clovis police spokesperson Ty Wood wrote the 911 call came in the evening of March 24, just before midnight, from an apartment complex on the 200 block of West Alamos Avenue, requesting help with an adult there who was “acting erratically.”
The 911 dispatcher could hear sounds of a disturbance in the background, and police and emergency medical services were dispatched immediately, the statement continues.
“Officers identified themselves through the unlocked door and were provided access to the apartment by the caller.”
Once inside, they made contact with De La Torre, who “became combative and charged at officers, which included a K-9 officer.” Police said she was then “restrained and placed in handcuffs,” and “while restrained and awaiting EMS, De La Torre suffered a medical episode and stopped breathing.”
“CPR was administered and, once stabilized by EMS, De La Torre was transported to Community Regional Medical Center” where she died “24 hours after being hospitalized,” the statement continued.
“It was later determined that De La Torre had a potentially toxic level of methamphetamine in her system. We understand the community’s concern over this incident and the desire to have as much confirmed information as possible. We are awaiting the full report from the Fresno County Coroner’s Office. In the meantime, we are limited in terms of sharing specific details of this ongoing investigation and we appreciate your patience.”
The news release ends by expressing “condolences to the family and friends of Isabel De La Torre” and stating that police have reached out to her family numerous times since the incident but “we have not yet received a response.”
The lawsuit states the incident occurred on March 26 in some instances. When asked for clarification by The Bee, attorneys said the preliminary draft of the death certificate shows she was injured on March 25 and pronounced dead at 12:19 a.m. March 26.
They said based on what they currently know, she died “a few hours after” her injuries – as opposed to 24 hours after hospitalization, what police said.
This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 4:46 PM.
